crazyfreakin'brave, alright
My mate Deb (the one who's superfit and the mother of a two little kids and has somewhat strange priorities) dragged me - in a very loving and encouraging way - toward some exercise the other night.
I can't swim as much as I'd like (crook ear) and boxing gets expensive (the good one) or repetitive (the cheap one). But I love bike riding and swimming, so Deb has lured me into a group of people who do "mini-triathlons". She says it's all levels, and her cousin who goes with her is quite useless too, so not to worry.
On Tuesday nights they have running training, only $2, so after a couple of weeks of excuses (I got my period today! It's raining!) I decided to bite the bullet. Even if the radio news an hour before it started said it was 33 degrees.
I got there a little bit early, and no Deb or Cuz. The first guy I saw was wearing a t-shirt that said "Sydney Marathon 1996 Finisher". And he had not been resting on his laurels in the intervening years Oh no. He'd been running like a maniac. Just like the other million people there who all looked like this:
There were about this many of them, too.
Which was HIGHLY INTIMIDATING, but kinda nice in parts. Still, mostly for me it looked like this:
The loneliness of the slow distance runner.
After the initial jog (oh dear, running), the stretchy bit (piece of enjoyable piss, bless you years of yoga), the gaylord drills (Now, I want to see prancing! But I don't need to hear any butt kicks" - yes, thank you Andre), then the "sets". Oh, and then the warm down run. FARK. Then the bike ride home.
Just for this week, I decided not to do the sets for the Iron Man/Marathoner/Ultramarathoner category.
Christ, is not a MARATHON enough for you people?
These psychos endlessly circle around the outside of the track, wearing tiny shorts and tefillim for runners (to tell them their heart rate is appropriately spastic or non-spastic, whatever it's supposed to be). The others were nice, but these guys were just a bit weird for me.
(And yes, I realise that I appear to have unconsicously channelled TJ's writing style, but I met her the other night and she is an infectious and enthusiastic creature and, well - IT WAS JUST THAT INTENSE PEOPLES!)
I can't swim as much as I'd like (crook ear) and boxing gets expensive (the good one) or repetitive (the cheap one). But I love bike riding and swimming, so Deb has lured me into a group of people who do "mini-triathlons". She says it's all levels, and her cousin who goes with her is quite useless too, so not to worry.
On Tuesday nights they have running training, only $2, so after a couple of weeks of excuses (I got my period today! It's raining!) I decided to bite the bullet. Even if the radio news an hour before it started said it was 33 degrees.
I got there a little bit early, and no Deb or Cuz. The first guy I saw was wearing a t-shirt that said "Sydney Marathon 1996 Finisher". And he had not been resting on his laurels in the intervening years Oh no. He'd been running like a maniac. Just like the other million people there who all looked like this:
There were about this many of them, too.
Which was HIGHLY INTIMIDATING, but kinda nice in parts. Still, mostly for me it looked like this:
The loneliness of the slow distance runner.
After the initial jog (oh dear, running), the stretchy bit (piece of enjoyable piss, bless you years of yoga), the gaylord drills (Now, I want to see prancing! But I don't need to hear any butt kicks" - yes, thank you Andre), then the "sets". Oh, and then the warm down run. FARK. Then the bike ride home.
Just for this week, I decided not to do the sets for the Iron Man/Marathoner/Ultramarathoner category.
Christ, is not a MARATHON enough for you people?
These psychos endlessly circle around the outside of the track, wearing tiny shorts and tefillim for runners (to tell them their heart rate is appropriately spastic or non-spastic, whatever it's supposed to be). The others were nice, but these guys were just a bit weird for me.
(And yes, I realise that I appear to have unconsicously channelled TJ's writing style, but I met her the other night and she is an infectious and enthusiastic creature and, well - IT WAS JUST THAT INTENSE PEOPLES!)
posted by Zoe at 3:06 pm
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